1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for calculating a value remaining in an electrical apparatus, of which value decreases with use, and particularly relates to a technology for calculating the residual value of the electrical apparatus based on its history of use.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, attention has been given on reduction of refuse, garbage or the like for environmental conservation. The refuse or the like can be reduced by reusing or recycling products. In the xe2x80x9creusexe2x80x9d process, a product or a unit (or a part) forming the product is repaired or cleaned, and is used again as the same type of product or unit (or part). In the xe2x80x9crecyclexe2x80x9d process, a unit or part forming a product is restored to an original material for use as a material (material recycle). Hereinafter, the reuse and the material recycle are inclusively referred to as the xe2x80x9crecyclexe2x80x9d.
For promoting the recycle of products, methods of accurately calculating a value of a product to be recycled have been proposed or developed. As one of such methods, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-251486 has disclosed a method of calculating values of secondhand or used cars.
The method of calculating the value of the used car disclosed in the above publication can be used when estimating the value of the used car for trade-in or purchase, and includes the steps of determining a manufacturer of a used car to be estimated, selecting a model and a type of the car to be estimated, determining a year of first registration of the car and a type of a transmission thereof, determining a grade of the car, determining a model year of the car, determining a body color of the car, obtaining a basic estimated value from the data thus determined and selected, adding a predetermined value to the basic estimated value if a total mileage is total mileage is shorter than a standard mileage of the same model and type, and subtracting a predetermined value from the basic estimated value if the total mileage is longer than the standard mileage.
According to the disclosed method, the estimated value of the used car for trade-in or purchase can be easily and accurately calculated based on the total mileage, which represents a current state of the car to be estimated.
Although the disclosed method allows calculation of a value remaining in the car based on the total mileage of the car, i.e., a product or article of trade, an electrical apparatus cannot provide an index corresponding to the above total mileage. Therefore, the value remaining in the electrical apparatus cannot be accurately calculated according to the disclosed method. Due to difficulty in calculation of the value remaining in the electrical apparatus, recycle (resale market) of electrical apparatuses is less popular than that of automobiles. For promoting the recycle of electrical apparatuses, it has been desired to provide some method allowing easy determination of residual values of the electrical apparatuses.
An object of the invention is to provide a history storing device and a history storing method, which allow storage of historical information of an electrical apparatus to be recycled for easy and accurate calculation of a residual value thereof by a collecting agent.
Still another object of the invention is to a residual value calculating device and a residual value calculating method, which allow easy and accurate calculation of a residual value of an electrical apparatus by a collecting agent for recycling the electrical apparatus.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a residual value calculating device and a residual value calculating method, which allow easy and accurate calculation of a residual value of an electrical apparatus based on characteristics of parts forming the electrical apparatus.
Further another object of the invention is to provide a residual value calculating device and a residual value calculating method, which allow easy and accurate calculation of a residual value an electrical apparatus based on an initial value of the electrical apparatus.
Further another object of the invention is to provide a residual value calculating device and a residual value calculating method, which allow easy and accurate calculation of a residual value an electrical apparatus even if variations occur in characteristics of parts and an initial value of the electrical apparatus.
A further object of the invention is to provide an electrical apparatus, which allows easy and accurate calculation of a residual value by a collecting agent in a recycle process.
A further object of the invention is to provide a recycle method, in which a current trade value can be easily and accurately calculated for recycle.
The invention provides a history storing device for storing a history of use of an electrical apparatus. The history storing device includes a detecting circuit for detecting a state of the electrical apparatus and issuing an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; a determining circuit connected to the detecting circuit for determining a history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal sent from the detecting circuit; and a storage circuit connected to the determining circuit for storing the detected history.
The state of the electrical apparatus detected by the detecting circuit is issued as the electrical signal. The determining circuit determines the history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal sent from the detecting circuit. The storage circuit stores the detected history. In this manner, the device can store the state of use of the electrical apparatus.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a residual value calculating device for calculating a value remaining in an electrical apparatus. The residual value calculating device includes a detecting circuit for detecting a state of the electrical apparatus and issuing an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; a determining circuit connected to the detecting circuit for determining a history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal sent from the detecting circuit; a calculating circuit connected to the determining circuit for calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus based on the determined history; and an output circuit connected to the calculating circuit for outputting the calculated value.
The state of the electrical apparatus detected by the detecting circuit is issued as the electrical signal. The determining circuit determines the history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal sent from the detecting circuit. The calculating circuit calculates the value remaining in the electrical apparatus based on the determined history. The output circuit outputs the calculated value. In this manner, the device can issue the value remaining in the electrical apparatus based on the state of use of the electrical apparatus.
Preferably, the residual value calculating device further includes a storage circuit connected to the calculating circuit for distinguishing parts forming the electrical apparatus based on patterns of variations of residual values with respect to time elapsing, and storing the patterns and the parts belonging to the respective patterns. The calculating circuit includes a circuit connected to the determining circuit and the storage circuit for integrating values remaining in the respective parts forming the electrical apparatus based on the history determined by the determining circuit and the variation patterns of the residual values stored in the storage circuit, and calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus.
The storage circuit distinguishes the parts forming the electrical apparatus based on the variation patterns of the residual values with respect to the time elapsing, and stores the patterns, and the parts belonging to the respective patterns. The calculating circuit integrates the residual values of the parts forming the electrical apparatus based on the history determined by the determining circuit and the variation patterns of the residual values stored in the storage circuit, and calculates the value remaining in the electrical apparatus. In this manner, the residual value of the electrical apparatus formed of the plurality of parts can be calculated by integrating the residual values of the parts based on the variation patterns of the residual values of the respective parts.
Preferably, the residual value calculating device further includes a receiving circuit connected to the storage circuit, and receiving the variation patterns for storage in the storage circuit.
The receiving circuit receives the variation patterns for storage in the storage circuit. Thereby, even if the variation patterns vary, the new variation patterns can be received for calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus.
Preferably, the residual value calculating device further includes a storage circuit connected to the calculating circuit for storing an initial value of the electrical apparatus. The calculating circuit includes a circuit connected to the determining circuit and the storage circuit for calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus based on the initial value and the determined history.
The storage circuit stores the initial value of the electrical apparatus. The calculating circuit calculates the value remaining in the electrical apparatus based on the stored initial value and the detected history. Thereby, the value remaining in the electrical apparatus can be calculated.
Preferably, the residual value calculating device further includes a receiving circuit connected to the storage circuit, and receiving the initial value of the electrical apparatus for storage in the storage circuit.
The receiving circuit receives, as initial values, a value of a new electrical apparatus and a value on a resale market of the electrical apparatus for storage in the storage circuit. Thereby, even if variations occur in the initial values (i.e., the initial value of the new electrical apparatus and/or the value on the resale market), the new initial value(s) are received for calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus.
According to still another aspect of the invention, the invention provides a history storing method for storing a history of use of an electrical apparatus provided with a history storing device. The history storing device includes a detecting circuit, a determining circuit and a storage circuit. The history storing method includes the steps of detecting a state of the electrical apparatus by the detecting circuit, and issuing an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; determining the history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal by the determining circuit; and storing the history detected in the step of detecting the history by the storage circuit.
The state of the detected electrical apparatus is issued as the electrical signal. Based on the electrical signal, the history of use of the electrical apparatus is determined, and is stored. Thereby, the state in which the electrical apparatus was used can be stored.
According to yet another aspect, the invention provides a residual value calculating method of calculating a value remaining in an electrical apparatus provided with a residual value calculating device. The residual value calculating device includes a detecting circuit, a determining circuit, a calculating circuit and an output circuit. The residual value calculating method includes the steps of detecting a state of the electrical apparatus by the detecting circuit, and issuing an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; determining a history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal by the determining circuit; calculating a value remaining in the electrical apparatus by the calculating circuit based on the history detected in the step of detecting the history; and outputting the value calculated in the step of calculating the value by the output circuit.
The detected state of the electrical apparatus is issued as the electrical signal. The history of use of the electrical apparatus is determined based on the electrical signal, and the value remaining in the electrical apparatus is calculated based on the determined history. Thereby, the value remaining in the electrical apparatus can be output based on the state of use of the electrical apparatus.
According to further another aspect, the invention provides a storage medium storing in a computer-readable fashion a program, which achieves a history storing method of storing a history of use of an electrical apparatus provided with a history recording device. The history storing method includes the steps of detecting a state of the electrical apparatus by the detecting circuit, and issuing an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; determining the history of use of the electrical apparatus by the determining circuit based on the electrical signal; and storing by the storage circuit the history determined in the step of determining the history.
The detected state of the electrical apparatus is output as the electrical signal. Based on the electrical signal, the history of use of the electrical apparatus is detected, and is stored. Thereby, the state of use of the electrical apparatus can be stored.
According to a further aspect, the invention provides a storage medium storing in a computer-readable fashion a program, which achieves a residual value calculating method of calculating a value remaining in an electrical apparatus provided with a residual value calculating device. The residual value calculating device includes a detecting circuit, a determining circuit, a calculating circuit and an output circuit. The residual value calculating method includes the steps of detecting a state of the electrical apparatus by the detecting circuit, and outputting an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; determining a history of use of the electrical apparatus by the determining circuit based on the determining circuit; calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus by the calculating circuit based on the history determined in the step of determining the history; and outputting the value calculated in the step of calculating the value by the output circuit.
The detected state of the electrical apparatus is output as the electrical signal. Based on the electrical signal, the history of use of the electrical apparatus is determined, and the value remaining in the electrical apparatus is calculated based on the determined history. Thereby, the value remaining in the electrical apparatus can be output based on the state of use of the electrical apparatus.
According to a further aspect, the invention provides an electrical apparatus recycle method of collecting and recycling an electrical apparatus provided with a residual value calculating device. The residual value calculating device includes a detecting circuit for detecting a state of the electrical apparatus, and issuing an electrical signal corresponding to the detected state; an determining circuit for determining a history of use of the electrical apparatus based on the electrical signal sent from the detecting circuit; and a calculating circuit for calculating the value remaining in the electrical apparatus based on the determined history. The recycle method includes the steps of outputting the value remaining in the electrical apparatus and calculated by the calculating circuit for collecting the electrical apparatus by a collecting agent; and setting a price for sale of the electrical apparatus based on the value output in the step of outputting the residual value.
When the collecting agent collects the electrical apparatus, the value remaining in the electrical apparatus is output, and the price for sale of the electrical apparatus is set based on the output value. Thereby, the collecting agent can easily and accurately set the price for sale of the electrical apparatus based on the state of use of the electrical apparatus.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.